Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Yikes it been forever since i posted on here! I should of at least come on to wish every one a Merry Christmas!!!!

Between unpacking , shopping for birthdays and Christmas presents and looking for stuff in all these boxes time slipped away from me. Mom stayed with me for four days so we weren't alone Christmas morning and opened gifts together.

We are all doing well and I am still surrounded by boxes but Mouse is doing awesome! I wish she would eat more but right now she only seems to be interested in her breakfast oatmeal. I slip in raisins and a vitamin as she is putting her nose up at ummm normal piggy pellets. It bothers me as i try different things as she leaves her dinner and yet needs to get her weight back up.

Penny had a rough few weeks as did I worrying about her kept me from sleeping. But i am cooking her soup and she is getting better , such a shame after loosing so much weight and moving really well that she can't seem to muscle her poop out. Boy does she get mad at me when i help her and then other times she accepts and lays down for it.. i have used every type of enema there is and spinach, prunes, juice well none of it helps her any more. But i will move on past this subject as she hasn't needed my help for about 4 days now.

Dior my quarter horse scared the heck out of my sister and I as she wobbled to the ground last week and looking like she was sleeping and having a nightmare we watched her have what at first thought was a stroke. By the time i raced into the house and got my vet on the phone she was rolling and i got out there to stop her. I stood behind her and asked her to stop and she got up all the while i was giving my vet a play by play. Then her eyes got so tired looking and when i looked over at Lacy she looked ready to drop too and it occurred to me that neither horse has laid down here to sleep yet. Something a horse must do every day or night to get adequate sleep. Horses only lay down when they feel safe in there environment, the move did have a toll on them after all. As of today both horses show signs of having laid down and as i told them i am 20 feet from them now ( my house) so they are safe as can be!! A seizure brought on by sleep deprivation is my guess and my vet says there is not too much we can do.

I took pictures of Mouse out and about here at the new place and of all the new paddocks i had built. And this will be the first Christmas ever that I couldn't take pictures of their morning feast. For some reason my computer doesn't see my memory card for my camera and i have tried everything but replacing it. Next run into town i will get someone to check it out for me and replace the card so i can get back on track. Feel lost without my pictures to share here!

This Christmas was really great as no snow to stop pig friends from bringing us goodies and leaving cases of apples out at the gates. Two leaf bags of bread and buns and a bag of carrots with the biggest carrots i have ever seen. I told the big pigs they were made for them lol.

Well this is getting to long and i don't want to bore you , no pictures is no fun at all. And Mouse is up asking for soemthing!!!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

This morning Angela arrived and we finished up her community hours with smashing ice, doing waters, tearing a fence down for the horses and picked horse manure from the pasture. By 2 we were both beat but we did it! That little fence allowed the horses some more grass. But as the saying goes the grass is always greener on the other side and so is the bird feeder. The horses explored the piggy village out front , ate bird seed and left a few good mounds on the driveway that had us bringing out the wheel barrow again.

Right now the work is easy and I don't ever recall saying that about winter but I'm not working right now so that could have a ton to do with it. Or the fact the acreage here is level ground and the horses are right up front here . No walking across the pasture threw the mud to the barn any more. Who ever put the barn out front here was a genius!

Carport Penny has the biggest of the two sheds that was here right next to where i keep all the feed. The only thing different for her is outside is a ton closer then it was before and that is good for her! No rocky driveway like the old place it is all paved here!

Mouse is licking up the bowl right now and i shared Penny's prunes with her. Today Mouse didn't potty at all so i am adding water to her pellets now too. Something more for me to worry about??

All the pigs seem to be settling in fine except for Winnie who is not a brave pig and has yet to venture out of her paddock.

Don Juan came at me again the day before. I was out in the middle of the front with only a little pail to protect myself. He lunged for me and a bucket of water over his head didn't change anything. I made a run for it when he leaped at me and jumped into Mouses mini pen. Watched him bite at the chair as he was feeling pretty mighty after seeing me run away lol. I grabbed the sorting board and walked towards his paddock and he stopped to eat bird seed and when I called him he was like his reg self. I hope when his hormones stop running rampant from the neuter so will he. If not he will never get out of his pen because he is a formidable opponent or unless i get some goalie pads and can take him off his feet. I will never be respected by him unless i win this fight.

This place wouldn't be too bad if i could keep the pellet stove running , it needs an over haul or something. Yesterday it stopped again so i went to grab the manual i found in one of the drawers to find out how you clean them. I read where it said do not vacuume unless its totally cold in there but stubborn and impatient that's me. And it was cold in here! So a quick vacuum then a dash threw the hosue with the bag on fire and there goes a perfectly good little car vacuum.

Mom stopped at the old place to pick up some mail from the new owner. The carport is gone and pretty much so is the kitchen. Major renovations happening over there. Funny how "home" has turned into the old place.

I am starting to feel like myself now although we worked hard today i feel good and snow is coming so i better get going early tomorrow!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

I am still way behind on emails but I wanted to thank everyone who posted there concerns as I took them to heart. I began force feeding her yogurt by the syringe. My vet actually came here yesterday morning to check on her which is something the practice doesn’t do. He works at the Grouse Mountain Wild Life Preserve as the vet there as well so me thinks he stopped on his way up the mountain. Even so something he didn’t get paid for and was here with Mouse for about an hour checking her over. He left us feeling confident she would begin eating today and he was right. Last night I offered her spinach and she ate it all up. Between last night at about 11 and this morning she ate her assortment of offerings and her served banana and apple pieces this morning. She was a little bit more of a challenge to get the meds in her so she is on her way to recovery now. Her first bowel movement will be the tell all for me and now that she has something in her I can expect that soon too. The prunes and spinach hopefully will make it an easy move-ment ;o))

She is here with me in the big house and the weather is really cold here right now. Hammering out ice out of waters twice a day and filling by the bucket until I get my electric hose today. Its only 40ft at over 200.00 but 40ft of not walking with a pail I will take at this price. Any how her little self will no doubt be spending a lot of house time as she is quite comfortable here in her nest of blankets.

The make shift pen is at the only access for pigs into or out of my house right now and I have the ramp set up for an easy way in and out for her and a tiny penned off area outside of it all. She has been using the litter tray , these guys are soo smart but you all know that!! She can stay in the big house as long as she wants , returning to the herd will be her decision.

I told her last night how she will be able to run like the wind again , no longer packing around that extra weight, and her natural sitting up on her back legs for treats will come again for this brave little girl!!

( stain on the couch was a squirt of meds as she resisted the offering a tad this morning! )

The operation was just a little over $2500.00 for enquiring minds wondering what the charges are like here . And it was a fair price as it was a steady 3 1/2 hours of surgery for Ken and his team and he went right from Mouse to another appointment waiting in the office. He was eating a cookie on the fly.

Monday, December 7, 2009

I have tried everything and anything! Waiting it out is not an option. I know she just had major surgery but a pig who refuses to eat is a very sick pig and i am not waiting it out any more. I forced fed her honey and the meds in a syringe tonight. Surprising it wasn't as difficult as i thought it would be , that is another sign things are not right.

Friday, December 4, 2009

The doctor says she is doing well and was standing up when I was talking to him. Color is good , heart rate good and she is a much smaller pig!! Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I will arrange help to pick her up now and will bring her home this afternoon. She will have all the attention she needs here in the big house with me and will arrange her bed in front of the patio doors here. Ramps to be arranged for down the road and a way to keep her confined when we do go outside but for the next few days/weeks she will be a house pig!

EDITED TO ADD.. she is home in a nest full of blankets a few feet from me. The pellet stove is keeping is all toasty warm, i hope she feels better tomorrow. She is drinking but has refused food tonight of any kind. I won;t push it as the ride home probably exhausted her. Pigs never lie down in the crates..

Thursday, December 3, 2009

My brave little girl survived the removal of a 35lb tumour today and i pray with all my heart i will see her back with herd very soon. She will of course spend the night and these next 24 hours are in our creators hands now as Ken (Watcom Vet) did a wonderful job! I was there at 9:30 thanks to the help of Carol (SAINTS) and Smitty!! Three hours in surgery... i got home about 3:30 with the aid of West Coast Tails Pet Taxi who came back to pick me up again after getting us to the vets on time.

Please send postive thoughts and prayers for Mouse.

That is Mouse on your left hand side after her herd got into a bale of straw back at the old place. They had fun!!!

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http://www.farec.org/documents/complete_shelter_book.pdf